Memories
by Charmed28
Summary: Neji never really noticed Hinata's new best friend until she came over to their mansion on Christmas Eve and fell unceremoniously on top of him into the snow. Collab fic by Vampy285 and kiwipie.


Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto.

**Vampy285: **This is written by both me, _Vampy285_ and my younger sister _kiwipie_. The story is in diary form so we can split it up easier: our writing styles are very different. Neji's journal is written by Vampy285 and Tenten's diary is written by kiwipie. (In case you don't notice, Neji and Tenten's diaries alternate; the first entry is from Neji's journal) First collaborative effort, might be a bit strange, hope you enjoy!

**kiwipie: **Yeah! :) My first collab fic!! Hope you like it! XD I would type more, but my sister pretty much explained the whole thing.

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**17th December, Sunday**

We have finally arrived at our new house. It's ridiculously large, as expected, and sits in the middle of Hiashi's private forest. The snow started to fall today-it seems fate is determined to make our lives difficult. Not only was moving everything inside the house extremely unpleasant, but the prospect of walking to school tomorrow in this biting cold weather doesn't appeal to me either.

There's a street of large houses on the edge of Hiashi's little woodland-the residents there were all too curious to find out who was moving into the old, deserted house in the forest. They irritate me. They should just stay in their own inferior homes and mind their own businesses. As if we would ever have anything to do with them.

Then again, I suppose we will have to. Their children will most likely be attending the same school as us-as if any parent would bother to find their child a better school. Hiashi certainly didn't. Oh, my mistake: Hanabi is allowed to attend a private school for talented teenagers on the other side of town, but Hinata and I are expected to be content with the public school twenty minutes away on foot. Hiashi makes no secret of his preference for Hanabi-in his opinion, she is his prodigious genius, and Hinata is the mistake that wasn't supposed to happen. And I, of course, am the son of his brother that he was forced to take in-the fact that he silently loathes me is no secret either. Ever since the day he found out about Hanabi's capabilities, he's been smothering me so I don't outshine his precious little girl genius. I hate him. I hate him.

It is late. I have to walk with Hinata to school tomorrow, while Hanabi goes to school in a limousine. I had better get some rest-I find it easier to control my temper at Hinata's stuttering attempts at conversation after I've had plenty of sleep.

_Neji Hyuuga_

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**18 December, Monday**

Dear Diary,

Walking to school today was a bit of a pain. The snow annoys me to no end. The white, perfect snow...doesn't it just remind of how imperfect you are? All my bad points were just running through my mind when I saw the snow this morning. I hate snow. The sensation as I stepped through the snow was disgusting. That squeeze and go feeling from the bottom of your shoes...ugh. I was just glad that I had enough sense to wear a thick jacket and a cotton scarf. My gloves I have already grown out of.

Heh. Being a school was a bit of surprise. I met a new girl. I haven't known her long enough to actually know her (she just came today), but she's seemed really kind! She has long midnight blue hair and opal eyes. Pretty, but she's shy. Her name is Hinata Hyuuga. Sakura and Ino seem to like her alright now, but hopefully in the future we'll all become good friends. _Best _friends maybe...

I was the person the teacher chose to show Hinata around the school. I have no idea why. But because of it, I got to know Hinata well enough for the time being. She has a little sister and she just moved here. She also has an annoying retard of a cousin. Who has long hair these days?! Let me answer that. Gay guys. Her 'cousin' stalked us the whole day, always walking exactly 5 feet behind us. Didn't he have anything better to do or was his life just that boring? He _seemed _bored- he always frowned when Hinata stuttered. I really have to stop her habit from doing that. I was so close to yelling at her to shut up...but yeah, she's a friendly person. Friendly.

Anyways, I thought her cousin would never leave us, but he did eventually, well, at if you can count the 20 feet during lunch time. He ate with some other guys at a table 1 row away from our (Hinata, Sakura, Ino and my) table. I should have known he would have fitted in perfectly with the popular guys. Sasuke and Shikamaru. They're all relatively good-looking, but what the hell. Who freaking cares about that stuff?

Oh, I've gotta go. It's almost time for martial arts (I'm finally up to the purple belt!) and I gotta run there. Even if I get there just _one _minute late, Sensei will be mad...sorry, I'll feed you more information later, kay?

_Tenten_

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**18th December, Monday**

My first day of school was uneventful. The classes were easy, just as I had predicted, although the teachers aren't as incompetent as I had expected. The school itself is larger than the one Hinata and I attended in Kanagawa; I found it rather impressive. The facilities are new and efficient, and the classrooms spacious and well-lit. I wonder how they can afford that.

I followed Hinata around school all day, except for lunch. That girl frustrates me to no end-all day she was walking around with her new friend. I didn't care enough to catch her name, all I remember is that she was a tall brunette with her hair done up in two utterly ridiculous buns. How infantile. She's 15, the least she can do is try to appear more mature. But I don't want to waste my time writing about her right now.

The forest is beautiful after snowfall-I only noticed as we were walking to school today. The thick layer of snow covering the forest floor was purely white, the morning sunlight causing diamonds to glitter on the surface and the hideous, leafless boughs of the trees were hidden by the same perfectly white snow. I've always loved snow for some inexplicable reason. I know it's childish, but I can never seem to help but marvel at the pure, uncontaminated_ whiteness _of the snow...perfect, white, unblemished...snow hides the unsightliness of what lies underneath, a perfect, graceful mask. But the winds blow past, and the snow seems icy, cold, uninviting. And the loneliness...when I look down a snow covered path, completely devoid of people, the thing that strikes me is the utter _loneliness_. In summer, spring and autumn it would seem warm and inviting, no matter what time of day, but in winter, the eerie loneliness and silence...

Hinata is calling-dinner is served, I must go. Finally, I can leave my nonsensical verses of admiration for a natural occurrence of nature. Sometimes I am such a fool...if not for interruption, I suspect I would have gone on about snow for much longer.

I cannot fathom why snow fascinates me so...

_Neji Hyuuga_

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**21st December, Thursday**

Dear Diary,

Today was the annual date of Sakura's, Ino's and my yearly outing for Christmas Shopping. I tried to invite Hinata since we all know each other pretty well now, but she said she had something to do. I didn't know whether she was lying or not...but it was still fun all the same. Pretty funny actually. After school we had to trudge up the hill to the taxi stand...then we had to wait 15 freakin minutes freezing our butts off until a taxi came around. Heh.

So, we stopped off at the Konoha Mall and this was our plan: Spilt up for an hour, get presents, meet up at the fountain, go for dinner then go home together by bus. Simple, but we had been doing for the past 5 years now...old habits die hard.

After a round of all the shops, I was stuck on what to get Sakura. Ino was easy. I got her a baby blue bubble skirt from H&M. She's gonna love it. For Sakura I was torn between a hot pink mini-skirt and a pair of pink jeans with white zebra stripes in a random donation shop...in the end I had gotten the pink jeans. They were unique and I knew Sakura had nothing like them. Plus, they were cheaper than the skirt...hehe. After I finished buying all the stuff for my Sakura and Ino, I checked my watch. I had wanted to get something for Hinata and her family too...It was only 6:10. We had arrived at the mall at 5:50. I had 40 more minutes until I had to go to the fountain. Loads of time.

Even though I wanted to get all of them (Hinata, Hanabi and Neji) presents, I thought it would have taken me ages trying to find suitable ones for all of them. But, as it turned out, it was pretty easy. Almost as easy as it was for Sakura and Ino, and they're my best friends.

Anyhow, I ended up getting Hanabi a beautiful thick, heavy notebook with a hard cover that was designed with a mosaic pattern. It cost a lot more than Sakura's pair of jeans, but I got it. The Hyuugas are rich. I don't want them to think my presents are poor, second-hand crap. I got Hinata short-shorts from H&M. What? I like H&M! And maybe the shorts will boost up her confidence...she has long legs.

Now Neji...that was a hard one. I had really wanted to get him a good present that he would actually 'like'. I don't know why I was so keen on getting Neji a good present...I wasn't even that excited when I was getting Hinata her present, and I know her better than Neji! _Way_ better.

But to achieve my goal of finding Neji the perfect present, I walked _everywhere_. Up and down, down and up...sideways? When I checked my watch again, it was already 6:35. Seriously. I had seen snow globes, white ties, folders, fountain pens...but nothing suited Neji! Heck, I even went into Claire's Accessories. But you know what? Just before the second hand of my watch ticked to 50, I saw something perfect. Something that would suit Neji, no matter what he wore. A white scarf. When I touched it, it was so soft and it reminded me of snow...Neji reminds of snow, what with his eyes and icy aura and everything...

Yeah. Anyways, gotta go to bed. Last day of school tomorrow and I gotta be ENERGIZED!!

_Tenten_

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**24th December, Sunday**

Christmas Eve. Hinata's friend Tenten (I now know her name, since Hinata's uttered so many times) came over to the house today.

Never again.

She arrived at eleven in the morning, and once she heard that Hiashi's pond in the forest had frozen, she naturally wanted to go ice skating on it. I, of course, had to follow in case my clumsy cousin slipped and broke her ankle. I skated around the perimeter of the pond while they played foolishly in the middle, laughing at their own lame attempts at spinning. Hinata was never very good at skating, and from what I saw today, Tenten has never skated in her life. I spent most of my time dashing forward to catch one clumsy girl or the other from falling face first into the ice. Why they wanted to go skating when they couldn't even skate properly is beyond me. We have so many other things to do in the house, why an activity that both of them could barely do?

...

Tenten...fell. She fell many times, but one time...

She was going very fast, accelerating every second with no idea how to stop herself (so of course, she was screaming her head off the whole time). I dashed forward wearily to serve as a wall to stop her before she lost her balance and fell onto the ice, or landed face first in a bank of icy cold snow; after all, we, as her hosts, are responsible for her safety. We couldn't return her back to her mother with pneumonia or a broken leg.

But I digress.

I stood directly in her path, arms outstretched, bracing myself for impact. As expected, she came hurtling into me with no control whatsoever.

...what I didn't expect though, was for her to knock me down completely. She was going faster than I had calculated.

Luckily we were standing right on the edge of the pond, so I fell back onto a mound of snow.

She fell on top of me.

"Sorry, Neji!" She gasped, lifting her torso off me with her hands. She looked down at my face in panic. "Did I hurt you?! God, I'm such a klutz! Sorry! Neji, are you okay?!" or something to that effect.

But I wasn't paying attention to her words.

Writing this here is against my better judgment, but I'll write it down anyway. I can't seem to get the image out of my mind.

Tenten is...adorable.

I cannot forget any part of her face...her cheeks, flushed from the biting wind, her eyes, wide with panic, the most piercing shade of sharp brown that I have never seen before in my life, the hair that was coming loose from her buns, a few strands framing her worried face...

Tenten is not beautiful-her looks are average, nothing striking, nothing memorable. She doesn't have the unforgettable bubblegum pink hair her friend has, nor the shapely, sculpted body of the other, not even the innocent aura that those who see Hinata immediately become attracted to. What draws me to her more than the others? I barely know the girl, when I follow her when she's with Hinata I'm too far behind to catch any of their conversation, I only learnt her name a few days ago...

Tomorrow will be Christmas. Tenten will be coming over to our house again-her parents never seem to be home.

...for some reason, I can't help but look forward to tomorrow.

_Neji Hyuuga_

* * *

**24th December, Sunday**

Dear Diary...

Today was one of the...scariest and...well, emotional (?) days of my life. You ask why? I went to Hinata's house today. It started out fine, her house is HUGE and she gave me a whole tour of the place. Granite and chrome kitchen, tall bookshelves that loom over you, big colourful French windows...it's so cool! And yup, if you're wondering, Neji-the-stalker-guy (like the name?) was following us all around the place again.

Hmpf. Anyways, after the tour and some snacks...the scary part came in. Hinata told me the pond in her father's forest had frozen, I had immediately felt the need to go skate on it...which was pretty stupid since I don't know how to skate (though now I have a pretty good idea since Neji was there to help us out). Ah yes, Neji. The scary part. I have no idea how many times I fell down today at the pond, but Neji was there the whole time, supervising Hinata and me.

And then...without even _meaning _to, I kicked off. My skates kinda slid on the smooth sheet of ice and I felt as if I was flying. FLYING. Literally. I was screaming like mad when I was going round and round the frozen pond (I have no idea what Hinata thinks of me now, probably an idiot...), but Neji was chasing me. At the time, I didn't know how the hell he would catch me. I mean, I was going faster every freakin second and Hinata just stood there looking like a rabbit standing in front of an accelerating car.

...Neji eventually caught me...in the wrong way. He suddenly swerved ahead of me, standing right there in my path with his arms outstretched. It was as if he wanted to act as a barrier to stop me. God, I was so worried and panicked at the time! I didn't know how to go right **or** left (I'm new at skating in my defence), so...I kinda rammed into him (really hard) and we fell backwards into a heap. Thank God we were at the edge of the pond because that let us have a soft landing in the snow. Well...fine. _Neji_ fell onto the bank of snow and I fell on _top_ of him.

Hyuuga Neji is...gorgeous.

I can't get him out of my mind! When I fell on top of him and started babbling some weird apology, his eyes went all big and wide. He looked innocent all of a sudden, losing his 'ice cubish' edge. And his dark, coffee hair was falling out of his elegant ponytail, making him look even more like a girl with his cherry red lips and all...but you know what? Somehow, Neji can pull that feminine look off to make it look so sexy...and his_ chest_. Wow. It was so hard when I fell on it and I thought I could feel a 6 pack or something!

Oh my God. What am I writing?! No. I am _not _attracted to Hyuuga Neji. I barely know him! No. This is just...INFATUATION. Feelings like this come and go...hopefully mine will go soon. Soon, as in before tomorrow morning since I'm going back to Hinata's house. Mom and dad are on another business trip...

God. Christmas Day at Hinata's house...with Neji watching our every move.

...I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I will totally make a big fool out of myself tomorrow...this seriously sucks.

_Tenten_

* * *

**25th December, Monday: Christmas**

She gave me a scarf. It's made of soft white velvet...so much like snow. I wonder...is she aware of my fascination for snow, or did she choose randomly? But the former is impossible...no one knows that I even look at snow. I never talk to anyone, not Hiashi, Hinata or Hanabi, and certainly not some unknown girl that Hinata just met. It's barely been a week since we've arrived at Tokyo-I've known her for exactly seven days. Not nearly long enough to be thinking of her like this.

The scarf is still lying among the wrapping paper (it was printed with snowmen, by the way)...I have no idea what to do with it. I've never received clothing as a present before. Do I wear it in front of her, or would that be awkward? But if I don't wear it, won't she think that I don't like it? I certainly don't want her to think that...perhaps I should ask Hanabi.

I've just returned from asking Hanabi what to do with the scarf. The conversation was roughly like this, after all the greetings and chit-chat were out of the way:

"Hanabi, Hinata's friend Tenten gave me a scarf."

"You don't like it." It wasn't a question-that irked me a little.

"No, surprisingly, I...found it rather...nice."

She raised an eyebrow. "Nice?"

She's always been good at making me feel uncomfortable-a ten year-old girl talking with such a serious expression in her eyes and exuding that amount of intellect can be quite...unnerving.

"I didn't hate it."

Hanabi smirked slightly. I suspect it's difficult for her to express her emotions fully. "Come, Neji. Is it that difficult to say you like it?"

"Regardless of whether I like it or not, I need you to tell me what I do with it."

"Obviously, you wear it."

"So she can see?"

"Yes."

"And she won't...get the wrong idea?"

Here, she tilted her head to the side a little, still looking amused. "What _is _the 'wrong idea', Neji?"

"...never mind. Thank you for your advice."

"You're welcome."

I turned to leave. "Oh, and Neji?"

"Yes?"

"Merry Christmas."

"Oh, of course, forgive me, it slipped my mind. Merry Christmas, Hanabi."

Hanabi's last statement confused me-it didn't seem like her to take the trouble to wish me a merry Christmas. But, as I walked from her room back to mine, a thought suddenly occurred to me. Had I said 'Merry Christmas' to Tenten? Did these things matter to girls?

...should I call her? I know Hinata has her number. But would it be appropriate? We barely know each other, would she even have noticed if I hadn't wished her 'Merry Christmas'? This whole incident is frustratingly confusing. How would I have any idea how the female mind works? And why do I even _care _whether I wished some random girl 'Merry Christmas' or not? She's just Hinata's friend, a girl I barely know-why do I care?

Thinking about this just makes me feel like an idiot. I'm going to go think logically and rationally, and then I shall take the best course of action.

_Neji Hyuuga_

* * *

**25th December, Monday**

Dear Diary,

I feel depressed. Does Neji not like me or anything? Doesn't he even know I'm around him almost every single day now? Today when I went over to Hinata's house, I gave everyone the presents. I got typical responses from each of them ("Oh thank you and merry christmas to you too")...except for Neji.

Neji...I had spent such a long time deciding which wrapping paper to use for him. In the end, I finally used a blue one with cute little white snowmen printed on it. But when I gave Neji the present...he didn't say anything. Okay fine, he did say something. As he took the present, he had said 'Thank you'. But there was no 'Merry Christmas', no present...Hanabi didn't give me a present either but that was okay. I didn't see her for nearly every day of the week, and at least she said 'Merry Christmas' to me. Neji didn't do anything (except for his 'thank you'). His face didn't even show any emotion. It was like he didn't care about me at all...which I guess he doesn't but I thought...who cares what I thought.

Oh, wait. Sorry. The phone's ringing. Gotta go.

...

OH MY GOD! IT WAS HIM!! Okay, okay, this is really lame, but I HAVE to record the conversation into here. Okay, need to write fast, but legible. This is going to be hard.

**First Phone Conversation Between Neji & Moi**

_"Hello, Tenten? This is Neji Hyuuga."_

When I heard those 4 words, my heart started to pump like crazy. I had no idea what to say...so, in the end I settled for: "Hi, Tenten here." God, now that I think of it, I sounded like an idiot.

_"I wanted to thank you for your present again. The scarf was beautiful."_

"Oh, well...you're welcome."

_"My apologies for my rudeness. I shall reimburse you for the scarf. It's the least I can do."_ I didn't get what was up with his fancy choice of words...I didn't even care that he didn't get me a present! He likes MINE! He thinks it's 'beautiful'!

Trying to hide my delight, I answered in a supposedly casual tone. "Oh no, it's fine. You don't need to pay me back. That's the point of a present!" What? It's true.

_"...you shall receive a late Christmas present from me in due course. I have to repay you."_ Stubborn git.

"..." I just gave in. He would have kept insisting if I didn't. "Okay, fine."

_"And...one more thing."_

I was curious. What could he have wanted to say? "Yeah?"

There was a pause.

_"...merry Christmas." _

The words sounded awkward, but heck, I was jumping up and down all over my room at the time. I was happier than I had ever been since...I have no idea. I was just_ that_ happy. _Neji_ had called at _eleven_ just to say merry Christmas! To me!

"Merry Christmas to you too Neji!"

_"Thank you. Sorry for calling so late. Good night."_

"Night Neji...maybe I'll see you tomorrow?" I couldn't help but add that last statement in a hopeful tone. He probably thinks I'm a weird desperato now...damn.

_"I look forward to it. Good night, Tenten."_

**Beeeep.**

Hmmm...this day wasn't nearly as depressing as I thought huh?

_Tenten_

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**Thanks for reading, please review!**


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